Some tips for the 2nd paper

For general tips:

See the scientific writing guide I posted

From the syllabus:

General Guidelines: There will be two papers, each worth 100 points. For each paper, choose a topic in developmental psychology and attempt to answer a question that matters to you personally. For the first paper, use popular articles and scientific articles. For the second paper, only use scientific articles. Papers should be written in APA format, at least 4 pages in length. Turn in 2 copies of your paper and 1 copy of your articles. You may re-write one (not both) of these papers and re-submit it by April 18th to earn back up to half the points you missed.

Sample Topics: Daycare, breastfeeding, alcohol, smoking, intelligence, psychological disorders, attachment style, corporal punishment, personality traits, stereotype threat, sex, love, happiness.

Sample Questions: Does breastfeeding improve child IQ? How do you treat bedwetting? What are the gender differences in relationship satisfaction? Anything that examines developmental/ gender/ethnic differences on some outcome or looks at how a developmental problem can be solved is probably on the right track. Ask for help if you are stuck or want me to review a rough draft.

Paper #2: Science versus Science. The second paper is due March 21st. Your goal is to find the four best scientific articles to answer a (different) developmental question. Three of the articles must be research studies, but one may be a review, as long as they are from scientific journals. Describe the similarities/differences of the articles or how they compliment each other. Critically evaluate them. Finish by drawing conclusions about the answer to your question.

How to find scientific articles:

The best way to find scientific articles is using an internet search through the library web site. Go to this page: and click on the “PsychINFO 1887” link. Enter in some basic search terms. The hardest part about searching is choosing the right terms, so ask me if you are having trouble. On that search page, there is a check box that says “Limit to: Full text.” If you click that, it will (generally) only bring up articles that we have electronic versions of, ready for you to print. Otherwise, the search would include abstracts (brief summaries) too, which are no good for this assignment.

If you are doing a topic more related to health, medicine, fitness, etc., instead of PsychINFO, you can try a different search page, such as “MEDLINE,” or try both.

How to Write in APA Format

Guide #1

Guide #2

Guide #3

A Few Sample Papers I’ve Written

Utilitarianism

SSRI-induced Suicide

Examples

In-text Citations

One author  (Lastname, year)  (Smith, 2005)

Two authors  (Lastname & Lastname, year)  (Parker & Jones, 2007)

Three authors, first mention  (Lastname1, Lastname2, & Lastname 3, year)

 (Jones, Barnes, & McCarthy, 1974)

Three authors, after first mention  (Lastname1 et al., year)  (Jones et al., 1974)

Six or more authors  (Lastname1 et al., year)  (Billups et al., 1998)

Direct quote, include page number  (Lastname, year, p. #)  (Kent, 2001, p. 58)

References

Simple Guide